AEW’s plans for the Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament have been rewritten multiple times in 2026, with a string of wrestlers ruled out, forcing the company to repeatedly change course.
According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, the original plan for the AEW Women’s World Championship match at All In, with the challenger earning the shot by winning the Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament, was for Toni Storm to challenge Thekla for the title. Those plans were scrapped after Storm was written off television on the post-Revolution episode of Dynamite. Storm is expected to be out of action for the remainder of 2026 for reasons that have not been publicly disclosed, with reports indicating the absence is not the result of an injury.
With Storm unavailable, AEW reportedly pivoted to Thekla vs. Willow Nightingale for All In 2026. That plan also fell through. On the May 20 episode of Dynamite, Nightingale announced she was vacating the TBS Championship and withdrawing from the Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament due to a shoulder injury she suffered during a TBS Title defense against Red Velvet on May 16.
As a result, the Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament final at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door now features two replacements. Mercedes Mone, who stepped in for Nightingale, will face Maya World, who filled in for Sareee. The winner will move on to challenge for the AEW Women’s World Championship at All In.
Nightingale knows the tournament well. She won the 2023 edition of the Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament, defeating Ruby Soho in the final.
